Rev. Johnson V.
12th September 2010

The birth of our Lord Jesus, like everything else our Lord does, was carefully planned and even the choice of His name was not left to the imagination of Mary and Joseph. Instead the angel who spoke the news of the virgin birth to Mary, told her to name the baby ‘Jesus’ (Luke 1:31). Names are important as they are prophetic and foretell of the future. Our Lords’ name bore testimony to the work that He would do on the earth. Jesus means ‘Saviour’ and Christ means ‘Anointed One’ or ‘Messiah’.  He is the Anointed One, the Messiah, who saves us.

In this, the first of this series on an in-depth understanding of who our Lord Jesus is, we look at Jesus before He was born as a baby on this earth, before He became human. Did Jesus our Lord come into being only when He was born in a manager? Was that His beginning? No, the Bible is very clear that Christ existed before the world was created. Here are some important facts about our Lord before He was born as a baby in this world.

His Nature – Jesus was God even before He became human. He existed before the world was created. He, who is God, was sent by God to bring us salvation. See John 17:5, Philippians 2:5-8 and John 8:42.

Symbolic Expression – The Old Testament is an expression or type and shadow of the New Testament. Here are some expressions of who our Lord Jesus is and what He accomplished for us from the Old Testament, long before He was born on this earth.

• Jesus our Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4) – This is a reference to two incidents in the Old Testament (Exodus 17: 5-6, and Numbers 20:8). The first time, God asks Moses to strike the rock and the second time, to speak to it. The rock was a representation of our Lord Jesus. It was symbolic of the fact that Christ would be beaten (crucified) only once to provide what we need, and the second (and subsequent times), we need only speak to the Rock for our cleansing.
• Jesus is our Bread of Life (John 6:35) – is not talking about physical hunger or thirst but spiritual hunger and thirst. When we come to Christ, our spiritual hunger is satisfied. The God-shaped void is filled. Thereafter we may hunger and thirst for more of Him, but we will be satisfied.
• Word of God (John 1:1-2, John 1:14, 1John 1:1, John 1:18) – God spoke and the earth was created. The Bible says in Ephesians 3:9 that all things were created through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was always considered to be the creative, wonderful, supernatural Word of God. Hallelujah!

His Position before He became human – Where was Christ before He came to this earth? The Bible is clear that He was with God in heaven. John 6:62 asks a question that finds its answer in Mark 16:19. He returned to the place from where He had come. See also Luke 24:50, John 13:3 and Acts 1:9.

His function – Our Lord Jesus made the world (John 1:10). God created everything through Jesus (Hebrews 1:2, Ephesians 3:9 and Colossians 1:16), that’s why even the evil one has to obey us when we speak in the name of Jesus. He created and owns everything. See also John 8:56.

Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament - Lord Jesus appeared in the burning bush to Moses to deliver Israel. In Exodus 3:13, He says His name is “I am that I am”. In John 8:56 He uses the very same title. In Joshua 5:13, Joshua meets the Captain of the Host of the Lord. When Joshua realizes who He is, he bows down in worship. Lord Jesus received his worship. Angels don’t accept worship from us and they prohibit us from expressing any form of respect or honour (Revelations 19:10 and 22:9).

We worship an amazing God. His creative power is available to work miracles in our lives if we’d only allow Him. And with this precious gift of the love, our Saviour moves us from being ordinary to being extraordinary. While we are average, Jesus in us, makes us excellent. Let us believe and bring His kingdom into our lives. Anything less than our best efforts is not honourable enough for our God.